Eight Tips To Tackle All Those New Year's Resolutions For Your Home

It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of the New Year, dreaming about a fresh start and all the things you plan to accomplish. Like many homeowners, you likely set several house goals. However, as February approaches, you’re beginning to think that maybe you were a bit too ambitious with your New Year’s home resolutions.

Create your plan for completing resolutions using a calendar. Divide larger goals into smaller tasks and consider budgetary needs and any necessary professional services when determining timelines. Leave a few months empty to have built-in buffers for goals that take longer than expected or for unforeseen obstacles. Choose realistic projects that work for your life, not just to copy social media.

You know what they say: without a plan, goals are only dreams. Therefore, if you want to check things off your list, you need a game plan to tackle all those New Year’s resolutions. Here are eight helpful tips to keep you on track.

Reaching Those Home-Related New Year's Resolutions

1. Use A Calendar To Create Your To-Do List

Instead of just listing everything on paper or in a Google Doc, use your calendar. A digital or hard-copy version is fine; choose whichever feels most comfortable for you. A calendar makes it easy to build timelines into your resolution list, which is a big part of setting SMART goals. The “T” stands for time-bound, meaning your goals have a deadline. A calendar also helps you consider the achievability and relevance of your goals (“A” and “R” in the SMART acronym).

Not only does this help you accomplish tasks, but it also pushes you to prioritize and think more logically about your plan. For example, if one of your New Year’s resolutions for your home is to organize your attic, you might set that goal early in the year before temperatures start to rise.

As a result, you’re not working in a stuffy, sweltering space in the middle of July. Plus, clearing stuff out doesn’t typically cost you a lot of money, so you don’t need time to save or budget for the project. On the flip side, things like buying new furniture for the guest room may show up on your calendar in August. It doesn’t matter how hot it is outside, and it also gives you time to save for the purchase.

2. Break Down Large Goals Into Smaller Ones

Once you have your overall game plan in place using a calendar, break down larger resolutions into smaller, specific tasks. This step helps keep you engaged and makes your goals more achievable. Smaller milestones also allow you to track progress more clearly. For example, let’s revisit the attic example. You decide to clear out the attic in early March before it gets too hot. Simply writing “Clean Attic” on your March calendar page won’t cut it. Instead, get more detailed with your plan. It might look something like this:

• First Friday Of March — Do a quick pass-through of the attic to get rid of large items you know can go. (This helps give you more wiggle room for later and gets your momentum going.) Call a charity, such as the Salvation Army, to schedule a pickup for the donated goods the following week.
• Second Weekend Of March (Saturday) — Enlist the help of a friend or two to remove everything from the attic. Then, vacuum out the attic space.
• Second Weekend Of March (Sunday) — Go through items and divide everything into categories. Start a keep, donate, and toss pile, throwing out trash immediately. Box and bag all the donation items and have them ready for the next day's pickup (the one you scheduled).
• Third Weekend Of March — Clean and reorganize your keep items and start putting things back into the attic.

You can write these smaller, specific goals on the appropriate blocks of your calendar, making them visible and intentional. Check them off as you go to build your motivation and momentum.

3. Work On One Room At A Time

Another helpful tip for achieving home goals is to focus on one room at a time. Instead of jumping around the whole house, concentrate your efforts on one spot to improve your chances of accomplishing tasks. Finish everything you want to do in that room before moving to the next. To give you an idea, you might spackle and paint the guest room, get the new furniture set, and replace the broken closet door. After completing those goals, your guest room is done, and you move onto the powder room. Keep working your way through your home, room by room, patting yourself on the back for every goal you accomplish.

4. Make Sure Your Goals Work For Your Life

Take some time to review your goals before you start working toward them. Do the things you want to do actually sync with your life, or are you trying to mimic things you saw on Pinterest and TikTok? Sure, those perfectly-organized pantries look great on Instagram, but do they make sense for your day-to-day life? It’s essential to think about how your house needs to function to make your life work as smoothly as possible. The most well-organized spaces are those that make life easier for you, not the ones that look the most stunning.

5. Don’t Ignore Your Budget

How much things cost must be a part of your plan. Don’t simply create a laundry list of resolutions and start swiping a credit card or taking out HELOCs to complete them. Otherwise, you may end up with a list of completed goals, but you’ll also have a mountain of debt to go with them. As you plan, think about how much each item on your list costs. Use this knowledge to help you determine where in the calendar specific goals should go. For example, the more expensive items may go toward the end of the year, giving you time to save.

Alternatively, things that don’t cost anything or have a minimal price tag can go in the earlier months. For example, decluttering and deep cleaning are excellent options for January, February, and March. Not only do these projects cost nothing, but they also provide a clean, fresh foundation for all your other projects.

6. Schedule Professionals In Advance

Get pro services on your calendar ahead of time if you need them to complete any of your house goals. Many professionals have full schedules months in advance, so if you wait until you’re working on a particular project to call them, it could hold you back. For example, if you plan to replace your attic insulation in April, don't wait until then to start getting quotes and booking a pro. Otherwise, you’re more likely to get your new insulation in May or June.

Therefore, anything that requires experts, build finding the right pros into your plan. For the insulation example, you might get quotes in February to make a decision and schedule your preferred installer for April.

7. Don’t Cram The Calendar

You probably already know that things don’t always go to plan. Therefore, don’t add goals to every single month of your calendar. Leave two or three of them goal-free to act as built-in buffers, spread out over the year. Then, if anything goes awry, you don’t feel as if you’ve fallen behind with your resolutions.

8. Revisit Goals Every Month

As time goes by, you may realize the things you wanted to do to your house in January aren’t as crucial by June. Likewise, as you accomplish goals, you might decide you no longer need to worry about other things on your list.

For example, cleaning out the attic might give you the extra storage you require. Therefore, you no longer need to purchase a shed for the backyard. Revisiting goals also lets you assess your current financial situation to see whether you’re on track to meet specific expenses or if prices have changed. Note any changes to your resolutions on your calendar and make adjustments as needed.

A House Full Of New Year’s Resolutions Takes Time And Thought

No matter what resolutions you have for your home, they’re going to take time and planning to accomplish. Prioritizing your goals based on your needs, budget, and even environmental factors gives you a more realistic game plan.

You’re also more likely to accomplish tasks when you have a solid plan that fits your life. Instead of approaching your resolutions as things you have to do as soon as possible, break them into smaller tasks spread throughout the year. After all, the new year isn’t just in January; you get 12 whole months to make your New Year’s resolutions a reality.

Related Guides:

• 14 Items You Should Never Store In The Attic
• Organize Your Home To Make Life Better, Not To Look Perfect
• Organizing Mistakes To Avoid If You Want To See Results